Lincecum defies critics, wins Cy Young
nationalpost.com
November 11, 2008
Too small. Too unorthodox a delivery. Reconstructive arm surgery waiting to happen. Tim Lincecum heard all the naysayers over the years.
The San Francisco Giants righthander may never be able to quiet concerns about his long-term durability, but the 24-year-old now has a National League Cy Young Award that proves he can pitch.
"People have been doubting me my whole life," Lincecum said yesterday, after easily beating Arizona's Brandon Webb in the Cy Young voting. "It's nothing new and it's not one of those things that I'm going to hold against them."
Lincecum, who the Toronto Blue Jays tried to acquire via trade last winter, went 18-5 with a 2.65 earned-run average for the Giants and led the majors with 265 strikeouts. He received 23 of 32 first-place votes and 137 points from the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Webb had four first-place votes and 73 points after going 22-7 with a 3.30 ERA. He won the NL award in 2006 and was also second in the voting last year.
New York Mets lefthander Johan Santana, who had a league-leading 2.53 ERA, was third in the voting, followed by Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge, Milwaukee lefty CC Sabathia and Ryan Dempster, the Chicago Cubs righthander from Gibsons, B.C.
Sabathia received one first-place vote despite spending the first half of the season in the American League. After Milwaukee acquired him from Cleveland, Sabathia went 11-2 with seven complete games and a 1.65 ERA.
"I was definitely surprised," said Lincecum, who was lying on his sofa watching NFL highlights when he heard the news. "I was thinking more along the lines of Johan or Sabathia or Webb. Those guys are all great players. I think they're all three Cy Young winners previously [Santana won the AL award in 2004 and 2006, Sabathia won it last year]. So I figured they had a better shot, or as good of a shot, as I did."
Lincecum has a history of proving himself.
He was a Golden Spikes award winner in 2006 at the University of Washington as the top college player in the United States. And he posted a 0.69 ERA facing other top prospects in the prestigious Cape Cod League in 2005.
But the pitcher who is listed as 5-foot-11, 160-pound righthande fell to 10th overall in the 2006 draft because of concerns about how he would hold up to the rigours of professional baseball.
Before the draft, Baseball America described Lincecum's herky-jerky delivery as "resembling a pinwheel as he rocks back, [it] makes his body do most of the work and seemingly brings his lightning-quick arm along for the ride."
While six of the nine players selected ahead of Lincecum have reached the majors, he is the second member of his draft class to win a major award.
Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria, the third overall pick in 2006, won AL rookie of the year honours on Monday.
Lincecum credited his changeup for helping him become a dominant starter.
"I haven't been really one to consistently use it at all," said Lincecum, who went 7-5 and posted a 4.00 ERA in 24 starts as a rookie in 2007. "This year it definitely came up as a big pitch for me. I found a grip that I'm more comfortable with that I can throw more consistently for strikes and just proved to work for me."
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